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INDIAN POTTERY. 

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BY CHARLES RAU. 



Tiv former times, when the aboriginal inhabitants of this country were still in 
possession of their own lands, and their mode of living had not been changed 
by the intrusion of the pale-faced Caucasian, the art of pottery was practised 
by them to a considerable extent. This branch- of industry lost, however, much 
of its importance among the Indians so soon as they discovered the superiority 
of the vessels of metal, which they obtained in trafficking with the whites, and 
the durable kettle of iron or copper soon replaced the fragile and far less ser- 
viceable cooking utensil of clay. The beginning of the decline of this aborig- 
inal art is, therefore, of an early date, and at the present time it may be consid- 
ered as almost, if not entirely, extinct among the tribes still inhabiting the ter- 
ritory of the United States, excepting some in New Mexico and Arizona, who 
have not yet abandoned the manufacture of earthenware. p.s late as 1832, 
when Mr. Oatlin visited the nations of the Upper Missouri, he found the Man- 
dans still diligently practising the ceramic art ; but the ravages of the small-pox 
have reduced their number to a few, and. it is probable that vessels of clay arc 
no longer made in those regions. 

The Iroquois, of New York, those survivors of the once powerful Confedera- 
tion who have escaped the fate of being driven toward the setting sun, and are 
still permitted to dwell upon their native soil, have ceased long ago to fabricate 
earthen vessels. So I am informed by Dr. Peter Wilson, De-jih-non-da-weh- 
hoh, grand chief of the Six Nations of New York. " The manufacture of pot- 
tery," says my correspondent, " has long since been discontinued among our 
people ; like most other utensils, clay vessels have been superseded by utensils 
of the manufacture of the race who introduced among us the implements which 
are more durable and convenient. Such .^mplements and other articles used 
among us only remain, or are being manufactured, as are not superseded by ar- 
ticles which the ingenuity of the pale face replaces." The same remark can 
probably be applied to the other tribes eai&pf the Rocky Mountains. 

That the fabrication of earthenware was once carried to a great extent among 
the Indians, is shown by the great number of. sherds which lie scattered over 
the sites of their former villages and on their camping places ; but they are, 
perhaps, nowhere in this country more numerous than in the " American Bot«- 
torn," a strip of land which extends about one hundred miles along the Missis- 
sippi, in Illinois, and is bounded by the present bank of that river and its 
former eastern confine, indicated by a range of picturesque wooded hills and 
ridges, commonly called the " Bluffs." This beitom, which is on an average 
six miles wide and very fertile, was formerly the seat of a numerous indigenous 
population, and abounds in tumular works, cemeteries, and other memorials of 
the subdued race. Among the lesser relics left by the former occupants may 
. be counted the remnants of brok<n vessels, which occur very abundantly in 
various places of this region. These fragments are, however, mostly small ; 
and, according to my experience, entire vessels are not found on the surface, 
but frequently in the ancient mounds and cemeteries, where they have been de- 
posited with the dead as receptacles for food, to serve on their journey to the 
happy land of spirits. 




INDIAN POTTERY. 



347 



About six years ago, while living in the west, I was much gratified by the 
discovery of a place in the American Bottom where the manufacture of earthen- 
ware was evidently carried on by the Indians. The locality to which I allude 
is the left bank of the Cahokia creek,* at the northern extremity of Illinois- 
town, opposite St. Louis. At the point just mentioned the bank* of ihe creek is 
somewhat high and steep, leaving only a small space for a path along the water. 
When I passed there for the first time, I noticed, scattered over the slope or 
protruding from the ground, a great many pieces of pottery of much larger size 
than I had ever seen before, some being of the size of a man's hand, and others 
considerably larger; and, upon examination, I found that they consisted of a 
grayish clay mixed with pounded shells. A gieat number of old shells of the 
unio, a bivalve which inhabits the creek, were lying about, and their position 
induced me to believe that they had been brought there by human agency 
rather than by the overflowing of the creek. My curiosity being excited, I 
continued my investigation, and discovered at the upper part of the bank an 
old fosse, or digging, of some length and depth, and overgrown with stramo- 
nium or jimson weed ; and upon entering this excavation, 1 saw near its bottom 
a layer of clay, identical in appearance with that which composed the fragments 
of pottery. The excavation had unmistakably been dug for the purpose of ob- 
taining the clay, and I became now convinced beyond doubt that the fabrica- 
tion of earthen vessels had been carried on by the aborigines at this very spot. 
All the requisites for manufacturing vessels were on hand; the layer of clay 
furnished the chief ingredient, ahd the creek not only supplied the water for 
moistening the clay, but hai bored also the mollusks whose valves were used in 
tempering it. Wood abounded in the neighborhood. All these facts being as- 
certained, it was easy to account for the occurrence of the large fragments. 
Whenever pottery is made, some of the articles will crack during the process of 
burning, and this will happen more frequently when the method employed in 
that operation is of a rude and primitive character, as it doubtless was in the 
present case. The sherds found at this place may, therefore, with safety be 
considered as the remnants of vessels that were spoiled while in the fire, and 
thrown aside as objects unfit for use. 

I did not succeed in finding the traces of a kiln or fireplace, and it is proba- 
ble that the vessels were merely baked in an open fire, of which all vestiges 
have been swept away long ago. The occurrence of the broken pottery was 
confined to a comparatively small area along the bank, a space not exceeding 
fifty paces in length, as far as I can recollect. They were most numerous in 
the proximity of the old digging, and at that place quite a number of them were 
taken out of the creek into which they had fallen from the bank. Farther up 
the creek I saw another excavat on in the bank, of much smaller dimensions, 
and likewise dug for obtaining clay. Among the shells and sherds I noticed 
many flints which had obviously been fashioned to serve as cutting implements ; 
they were, perhaps, used in tracing the ornamental lines on the vessels or in 
smoothing their surfaces. 

I did not find a single complete vessel at this place, but a great variety of 
fragments, the shape of which enabled me to determine the outline of the uten- 
sils of which they originally formed parts. This was not a very difficult matter, 



Ci This creek runs in a southwardly direction through Madison county and a part of St. 
Clair county, and empcies into the Mississippi four nines beiow St. Louis, near the old 
Trench village of Cahokia. 



348 



INDIAN POTTERY. 



especially in cases when portions of the rim remained. Figures 1 and 2 rep- 
resent (in sections through the middle) the prevailing forms of the vessels. 

1 2 




The rim, it will be seen, is formed into a lip and turned over, in order to facili- 
tate suspension ; sometimes, however, it is cut off abruptly, as in Fig. 3. Some 
of the vessels — more especially the smaller ones — were provided with ears, like 
Fig. 4;* others had the outer rim set with conical projections or studs, both for 
convenience and ornament; and a few of the fragments exhibit very neatly in- 
dented or notched rims. In size these vessels varied considerably ; some 
measured only a few inches through the middle, while the largest ones, to 
judge from the curvature of the rims, must have exceeded two feet in diameter. 
The bottom of the vessels mostly seems to have been rounded or convex. I 
found not a single flat bottom-piece. This, however, may be merely accidental, 
considering that . flat-bottomed vessels were made by the Indians. The appear- 
ance of the fragments indicates that the earthenware was originally tolerably 
well burned, and the fracture exhibits in many instances a reddish color. But, 
as the art of glazing was unknown to the manufacturers, it is no wonder that 
the sherds, after having been imbedded for many years in the humid ground, or 
exposed to rain and the alternate action of a burning sun and a severe cold, are 
now somewhat brittle and fragile ; yet, even when new, this aboriginal earthen- 
ware must have been much inferior in compactness and hardness to the ordinary 
kind of European or American crockery. 

The thickness of the fragments varies from one-eighth to three-eighths of an 
inch, according to the size of the vessels, the largest being also the strongest in 
material. But in each piece the thickness is uniform in a remarkable degree ; 
the rims are perfectly circular, and the general regularity displayed in the work- 
manship of these vessels renders it almost difficult to believe that the manufac- 
turers were unacquainted with the use of the potter's wheel. Such, however, 
was the case. ' I have already mentioned that the clay used in the fabrication 
of this earthenware is mixed with coarsely pulverized unio-shells from the 
creek ; only a few of the smaller bowls or vases seem to consist of pure clay. 
The vessels were covered on the outside, and some even on both sides, with a 
thick coating of paint, either of a black, dark brown, or beautiful red color, and 



* I possess a small food vase of this shape, which was taken out of an old Indian grave 
on the " Bluffs," near French village, six or seven miles east of Illinoistown. It was, per- 
haps, made at the very place which I have described. 



INDIAN POTTERY. 



349 



in some fragments the latter still retains its original brightness. Only one 
color, however, was used in the painting of each article. It is evident that the 
coloring preceded the process of baking, and the surfaces thus coaled are smooth 
and shining, the paint replacing to a certain extent the enamel produced by 
glazing. 

That the aboriginal potters on the Cahokia creek did not neglect the decorative 
art in their manufactures, is shown by ^fhe ornamental lines traced on the surface of 
their crockery. The simplest form of ornamentation consists in straight lines run- 
ning around the vessel parallel to the rim ; but they employed also other combi- 
nations of lines, of which figures 5, 6, 7, and 8 are examples. In some instances 








theinside only was ornamented. The lines are mostly drawn svilh great regularity, 
and sometimes one-eighth of an inch wide, with a corresponding depth. I obtained, 
however, from the deposit at the Cahokia creek one small fragment, which ex- 
hibits a much higher degree of skill in the art of decoration than any of the others 
found at the same place. Figure 9 represents it in full 
size. This specimen is about three-sixteenths of an 
inch thick, and consists of clay with an admixture of 
pulverized granite, the components of which — quartz, 
feldspar, and mica — can be plainly distinguished in 
the fracture. It is well baked and of a light-gray 
color. The ornamental lines and notches are im- 
pressed, or, perhaps, scooped out, with the greatest 
accuracy, and the vessel, when complete, must have 
presented a very good specimen of aboriginal ceramic 
~M art. Whoever compares the annexed drawing with 
jl Fig. 5 on Plate 46 of the. " Ancient Monuments of the 
^ Mississippi Valley," by Squier and Davis, will find 
that the originals of the representations are nearly alike in point of ornamenta- 
tion. The latter drawing delineates a part of a vase found in one of the an- 
cient mounds of Ohio. Having seen the best specimens of " mound " pottery 
obtained during the survey of Messrs. Squier and Davis, I do not hesitate to 
assert that the clay vessels fabricated at the Cahokia creek were in every re- 
spect equal to those exhumed from the mounds of the Mississippi valley, and 
Dr. Davis himself, who examined my specimens from the first-named locality, 
expressed the same opinion. 



350 



INDIAN POTTERY 



One of the methods employed by the Indians in the manufacture of earthen- 
ware was, to weave baskets of rushes or willows, similar in shape to the vessels 
they intended«to make, and to coat the inside of these baskets with clay to the 
required thickness ; the baskets, after being destroyed by the fire, left on the 
outer surface of the vessels peculiar impressions, resembling basket-work, which 
produce a very pleasing effect, and replace ornamentation to a certain extent.* , 

With this method the potters on the Cahokia creek were likewise acquainted, 
for I found a few pieces of their ware bearing the marks just mentioned. This 
sort of pottery, however, is not mixed with pounded shells, but with sand, and 
is much better baked than the other kind ; it has a pale-reddish appearance, 
and is not painted. 

Lastly, I have to enumerate among the objects of baked clay obtained from 
the deposit in the American Bottom, two articles resembling the beaks of large 
birds, perhaps detached pot or pan handles; a flat piece, forming the base of the 
figure of some animal, of which, unfortunately, the tail only remains, and the 
remnant of a toy canoe. The last-named specimen, probably made by some 
affectionate Indian mother for her little son, was picked up from the bottom of 
the creek. 

The question now arises, who were the makers of these manufactures of clay? 
I simply ascribe them to the Cahokia Indians, who dwelt, until a comparatively 
recent period, on the banks of the creek that still bears the name of their tribe. 
Concerning the antiquity of the manufactures described on the preceding pages, 
I am not prepared to give an estimate. Only a hundred years may have elapsed 
since they were made, yet it is also possible thnt they are much older. The 
appearance of the fragments rather indicates a modern origin. 

The writings of early, and even comparatively modern, authors on North 
America are not deficient in particulars relating to the art of pottery among the 
natives. According to their statements, those tribes were most advanced in the 
manufacture of earthenware, who inhabited the large tracts of land formerly 
called Florida and Louisiana, which comprise at present the southern and south- 
western States of the Union; and their testimony is fully corroborated by the 
character of such specimens of pottery from those parts as have escaped destruc- 
tion, and are preserved in the collections of the country. f The Natchez, on the 
Lower Mississippi, perhaps the most civilized among the North American Indians, 
and supposed to be related to the Aztecs, were skilful potters. So we are told 
by the anonymous Portuguese gentleman called the "Knight of Elvas," who 
accompanied, towards the middle of the sixteenth century, De Soto on his ad- 
venturous expedition through a great portion of the North American continent, 
and became afterwards the chronicler of that bold Spaniard's exploits. . In the 
province of Naguatex, he states, clay vessels were made "which differed very 
little from those of Estremoz or Montemor." These two towns in Portugal are 
noted for their earthenware. J Du Pratz mentions the "Ecore Blanc," on the 



* Bartram describes a vessel of this kind which he extracted from a shell-mound on one of 
the islands near the coast of Georgia. — Bartram's Travels, Dublin, 1793, p. 6. 

t" In some of the southern States, it is said, the kilns in which the ancient pottery was 
baked are now occasionally to be met with. Some are represented still to contain the ware, 
partially burned, and retaining the rinds of the gourds, &c, over which they were modelled, 
and which had not been entirely removed by the fire. In Panola county, Mississippi, are 
found great numbers of what are termed pottery kilns, in which are masses of vitrified matter, 
frequently in the form of rude bricks, measuring twelve inches in length by ten in breadth. 
It seems most likely that these kilns are the remains of the manufactories of the later tribes — 
the Choctaws and Natchez— ' who,' says Adair, 'made a prodigious number of vessels of 
pottery, of such variety of forms as would be tedious to describe and impossible to name.' " — 
Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley, Washington, 1848, p. 195. 

X Virginia Richly Valued, by the Description of the Maine Land of Florida, her next Neigh- 
bour, &c. Written by a Portugall Gentleman of Eluas, emploied in all the Action, and 
translated out of the Portugese by Richard Haklvyt, London, 1609, (reprint of 1812, Sup- 
plement,) p. 750. 



INDIAN POTTERY. 



351 



Mississippi, as one of the localities where the Natchez obtained clay for their 
pottery, and likewise ochre to paint it. "When coated with ochre," he says, 
"it becomes red after the burning." Elsewhere, in speaking of the manufacture 
of clay vessels by the natives of Louisiana, the same author remarks : "The 
women make pots of an extraordinary size, jars with a small opening, bowls, 
two-pint bottles with long necks, pots or jugs for preserving bear oil, holding 
as much as forty pints, and, finally, plates and dishes in the French fashion."* 

Dumont, who likewise describes the manners of the people inhabiting the ex- 
tensive country formerly called Louisiana, has left a more minute account of the 
method they employed in making earthenware. He says : "After having amassed 
the proper kind of clay and carefully cleaned it, the Indian women take shells 
which they pound and reduce to a fine powder; they mix this powder with the 
clay, and having poured some water on the mass, they knead it with their hands 
and feet, and make it into a paste, of which they form rolls six or seven feet 
long and of a thickness suitable to their purpose. If they intend to fashion a 
plate or a vase, they take hold of one of these rolls by the end, and fixing here 
with the thumb of the left hand the centre of the vessel they are about to make, 
they turn the roll with astonishing quickness around this centre, describing a 
spiral line; now and then they dip their fingers into water and smooth with the 
right hand the inner and outer surface of the vase they intend to fashion, which 
would become ruffled or undulated without that manipulation. In this manner 
they make all sorts of earthen vessels, plates, dishes, bowls, pots, and jars, 
some of which hold ftom forty to fifty pints. The burning of this pottery does 
not cause them much trouble. Having dried it in the shade, they kindle a large 
fire, and when they have a sufficient quantity of embers, they clean a space in 
the middle, where they deposit their vessels and cover them with charcoal. 
Thus they bake their earthenware, which can now be exposed to the fire, and 
possesses as much durability as ours. Its solidity is doubtless to be attributed 
to the pulverized shells which the women mix with the clay."f 

Adair, more than a century ago a trader with the tribes who occupied the 
southern portion of the present Union, confines himself to the following remarks : 

" They make earthen pots of very different sizes, so as to contain from two to 
ten gallons; large pitchers to carry water; bowls, dishes, platters, basins, and 
a prodigious number of other vessels of such antiquated forms as would be te- 
dious to describe and impossible to name. Their method of glazing them 
is, they place them over a large fire of smoky pitch-pine, which makes them 
smooth, black, and firm. Their lands abound with proper clay for that use."| 

Loskiel, who describes the manners of the Delawares and Iroquois, states 
that they made formerly kettles and cooking-pots of clay, which they mixed 
with finely pounded shells, and burned until they became black throughout. 
Quite large pieces of their pots, he says, in Avhich the pounded shells could still 
be seen, were often found in such places where the Indians had dwelt in ancient 
times ; but after the arrival of the Europeans very light kettles of brass had 
generally been introduced among them.§ Thus we see that these tribes began 
at an early period to neglect the manufacture of clay vessels. 

A very good account relating to the art of pottery, as formerly practised by 
the western tribes, is given by Hunter. " In manufacturing their pottery for 
cooking and domestic purposes," he says, "they collect tough clay, beat it into 
powder, temper it with water, and then spread it over blocks of wood, which 
have been formed into shapes to suit their convenience or fancy. When suffi- 
ciently dried, they are removed from the moulds, placed in proper situations, 



* Du Pratz, Histoire de la Louisiane, Paris, 1758, vol. i, p. 124, and vol. ii, p. 179. 
t Dumont Memoires Historiques sur la Louisiane, Paris, 1753, vol. ii, p. 271, &c. 
X Adair's History of the American Indians, London, 1775, p. 424. 

§ Loskiel, Geschiehte der Mission der evangelischen Briider unter den Indianern in Nord- 
Amerika, Barby, 1789, p. 70. 



352 



INDIAN POTTERY. 



and burned to a hardness suitable to their intended uses. Another method 
practised by them is, to coat the inner surface of baskets made of rushes or wil- 
lows with clay, to any required thickness, and when dry, to burn them as 
above described. In this way they construct large, handsome, and tolerably 
durable ware ; though latterly, with such tribes as have much intercourse with 
the whites, it is not much used, because of the substitution of cast-iron ware in 
its stead." 

" When these vessels are large, as is the case for the manufacture of sugar, 
they are suspended by grape-vines, which, wherever exposed to the fire, are 
constantly kept covered with moist clay. Sometimes, however, the rims are 
made strong, and project a little inwardly quite round the vessel so as to admit 
of their being sustained by flattened pieces of wood slid underneath these pro- 
jections and extending across their centres."* 

Lastly, I will quote here the remarks made by Catlin relating to the fabrica- 
tion of earthenware among the Mandans. " Earthen dishes or bowls are a familiar 
part of the culinary furniture of every Mandan lodge, and are manufactured by 
the women of this tribe in great quantities, and modelled into a thousand 
forms and tastes. They are made from a tough black clay and baked in kilns 
which are made for the purpose, and are nearly equal in hardness to our own 
manufacture of pottery, though they have not yet got the art of glazing, which 
would be to them a most valuable secret. They make them so strong and ser- 
viceable, however, that they hang them over the fire, as we do our iron pots, 
and boil their meat in them with perfect success. I have seen some few speci- 
mens of such manufacture, which have been dug up in Indian mounds and tombs 
in the southern and middle States, placed in our eastern museums and looked 
upon as a great wonder, when here this novelty is at once done away with, and 
the whole mystery; where women can be seen handling and using them by 
hundreds, and they can be seen every day in the summer also, moulding them 
into many fanciful forms, and passing them through the kilns where they are 
hardened. "f 

The largest vessels made by the Indians, it seems, were those used in pro- 
curing salt by evaporation near salt springs. Die Pratz mentions a locality in 
Louisiana where the aborigines collected salt in earthen vessels made on the spot, 
before they had been supplied with kettles of metal by the French.f The 
•'Knight of Elvas" likewise describes the method of salt-making employed by 
the natives. " The saline below St. Genevieve, Missouri," says Brackenridge, 
" cleared out some time ago and deepened, was found to contain wagon loads of 
earthenware, some fragments bespeaking vessels as large as a barrel, and prov- 
ing that the salines had been worked before they were known to the whites. "§ 

I had occasion to examine a fragment of a vessel of this kind sent to Dr. 
Davis in 1859 by Mr. George E. Sellers, who obtained it at the salt springs 
near Saline river, in southern Illinois, a locality where salt was formerly made 
by the Indians. Several acres, Mr. Sellers states, are covered with broken ves- 
sels, and heaps of clay and shells indicate that they were made' on the spot. 
They presented the shape of semi-globular bowls with projecting rims; and 
measured from thirty inches to four feet across the rim, the thickness varying 
from one-half to three-quarters of an inch. This earthenware had evidently 
been modelled in baskets. The fragment sent to Dr. Davis is a rim-piece three- 
quarters of an inch thick, consisting of three distinct layers of yellowish clay, 
mixed with very coarsely pounded shells. It is solid and heavy, and must have 
been tolerably well baked. The impressions on the outside are very regular 



* Hunter's Manners and Customs of several Indian tribes located west of the Mississippi, 
Philadelphia, 1823, p. 296, &c. 

t Catlin 1 s North American Indians, London, 1848, vol. i, p. 116. 
X Du Pratz, vol. i, p. 307. 

§ Brackenridge, Views of Louisiana, Pittsburg", 1814, p. 186. 



INDIAN POTTERY. 



353 



and really ornamental, proving that those aboriginal potters were also skilful 
basket-makers. 

It would be erroneous to suppose the art of manufacturing clay vessels had 
been in use among all, the tribes spread over this widely extended country ; for, 
though exhibiting much general similarity in character and habits, they differed 
considerably in their attainments in the mechanical arts. This was the conse- 
quence of local circumstances, such as configuration and quality of the soil, 
climate, and other natural conditions which influenced, or rather determined their 
mode of life. Some of the North American tribes, who did not understand the 
fabrication of earthen vessels, were in the habit of cooking their meat in water 
set to boiling by means of heated stones which they put into it, the receptacles 
used in this operation being large wooden bowls, water-tight baskets, or even 
the raw hides of animals they had killed. The Assinaboins, for example, cooked 
in skins. *' There is a very curious custom among the Assinaboins," says Gatlin, 
" from which they have taken their name — a name given them by their neigh- 
bors from a singular mode they have of boiling their meat, which is done in the 
following manner : When they kill meat, a hole is dug in the ground about the 
size of a common pot, and a piece of the raw hide of the animal, as taken from 
the back, is put over the hole, and then pressed down with the hands close 
around the sides, and filled with water. The meat to be boiled is then put in 
this hole or pot of water ; and in a fire, which is built near by, several large 
stones are heated to a red heat, which are successively dipped and held in the 
water until the meat is boiled ; from which singular and peculiar custom, the 
Ojibways have given them the appellation of Assinaboins or Stone-boilers." 

" This custom," he continues, " is a very awkward and tedious one, and used 
only as an ingenious means of boiling their meat, by a tribe who was too rude 
and ignorant to construct a kettle or pot. The traders have recently supplied 
these people with pots ; and even long before that, the Mandans had instructed 
them in the secret of manufacturing very good and serviceable earthen pots, 
which together have entirely done away the custom, excepting at public testis 
vals, where they seem, like all others of the human family, to take pleasure in 
cherishing and perpetuating their ancient customs."* Yet, the Assinaboins 
may, nevertheless, have been acquainted with the art of pottery ; for they are a 
detached branch of the Dacotahs, probably of the Yankton band of that nation, 
and we have the testimony of Carver, for instance, that the Naudowessics — that 
is, the Dacotahs or Sioux — made " pots of clay, in which they boiled their 
victuals."t 

Some of the tribes of New Mexico and Arizona, as, for example, the Mojaves 
and Pimas, still manufacture pottery ; but the Pueblo Indians of those districts 
are especially noted for their fictile fabrics. " They manufacture, according to 
their aboriginal art, both for their own consumption and for the purposes of 
traffic, a species of earthenware not much inferior to the coarse crockery of our 
common potters. The pots made of this material stand fire remarkably well, 
and are the universal substitutes for all the purposes of cookery, even among the 
Mexicans, for the iron castings of this country, which are utterly unknown 
there. Rude as this kind of crockery is, it nevertheless evinces a great deal of 
skill, considering that it is made entirely without lathe or any kind of machinery. 
It is often fancifully painted with colored earths and the juice of a plant called 
guaco, which brightens by burning."! 

Speaking of that region, I must not omit to allude, at least, to the numerous 
fragments of ancient pottery which occur on the Little ColoradofColorado Chi- 
quito) ; and Gila, especially among ruins, and are often highly decorated and 
painted with various colors, exhibiting a style of workmanship differing from 

* Catlin, vol. i, p. 54. 

t Carver's Travels, London, 1781, Harper's Reprint, p. 154. 
t Gregg's Commerce of the Prairies, Philadelphia, 1851, vol. i, p. 278. 
23 s 



354 



INDIAN POTTERY. 



and surpassing that which prevailed on the eastern side of the Rocky Mountains. 
Descriptions of these relics, however, would exceed the intended limits of this 
essay, and, moreover, they have been given elsewhere, together with specula- 
tions concerning the character of the manufacturers.* 

Some years ago, while visiting northern Europe, I had occasion to see many 
specimens of ancient pottery deposited in the archaeological collections of that 
district, and having previously become acquainted with the character of North 
American aboriginal pottery, it afforded me great pleasure to trace the similarity 
in the fictile manufactures of both continents. Where the external conditions 
of life were similar anions; men, their inventive powers were necessarily exerted 
in a similar manner. We have the testimony of Tacitus, that the inhabitants 
of Germany lived, about two thousand years ago, much in the manner of the 
North American Indians, before the original habits of the latter had undergone 
the changes resulting from their intercourse with Europeans or their descend- 
ants ; and it is, therefore, quite natural that both races should have resorted to 
the same, or, at least, similar means to satisfy their wants. The ancient flint 
implements of northern Europe bear a close resemblance to those formerly made 
by the natives of this country, and a like conformity is exhibited in the character 
of their manufactures of clay. 

The aborigines of North America, to recapitulate the general characteristics 
of their pottery, formed their vessels by hand, modelling them sometimes in 
baskets, and were, as far as we know, unacquainted with the art of glazing. 
They mixed the clay used in their pottery either with pounded shells or sand, 
or with pulverized silicions rocks ; mica also formed sometimes a part of the 
composition. Their vessels were often painted with ochre, producing various 
shades, from a light yellow to a dark brown, or with a black color. They deco- 
rated their pottery with lines or combinations of lines and dots, and embellished 
it also by notching the rims, or surrounding them on the outside with studs, or 
in various other ways. Their vessels exhibited a great variety of forms and 
sizes, and many of them had rounded or convex bottoms. They hardened their 
earthenware in open fires or in kilns, and notwithstanding the favorable state- 
ments of some authors, it was much inferior in compactness to the common 
crockery manufactured at present in Europe or America, and has even, in some 
instances, an appearance as though it had merely been dried in the sun. 

The same details, somewhat modified, are applicable to the specimens of an- 
cient pottery preserved in the museums of northern Germany, and frequently 
obtained from ancient burial places, where they had been placed by the side of 
the dead, or as receptacles of their ashes. Many of these vessels were evidently 
fashioned by hand ; but others, especially the larger ones, bear the unmistakable 
traces of the lathe, the use of which was, perhaps, known to the German tribes 
before they had intercourse with the Romans. The clay composing these ves- 
sels is strongly mixed with quartz sand, to which very frequently mica is added, 
probably with a view to impart more solidity to the mass. Ancient German clay 
vessels, after being exhumed, are soft and so fragile that a somewhat rough 
handling destroys them at once. The roots of trees and shrubs have often 
grown through those that are dug up in woods, which obviously shows that they 
were not sufficiently burned ; for well-burned clay, like that composing the pipes 
of Roman aqueducts and the bricks of the middle age, resists humidity even 
better than many kinds of stone. When exposed to the air, these vessels be- 
come tolerably hard within a few hours ; but in rare instances only they have 
that peculiar ring which characterizes well-burned earthenware. It seems, there- 
fore, that they were not burned in kilns, but merely in strong open fires. t Many 

* The reader is referred to an excellent chapter by Mr. Thomas Ewbank, entitled "Illus- 
trations of Indian Antiquities and Arts," in the third volume of Pacific Railroad Reports, 
Washington, J 856. 

t Klemm, Gerrnanische Alterthumskunde, Dresden, 1836, p. 167. 

Rn 12.8 




INDIAN POTTERY. 



355 



of the urns are painted with yellow or red earths, or a black color, the latter pig- 
ment being sulphuret of molybdenum. May not the same substance, which 
occurs in many localities of the United States, have been used by the Indians 
for blackening their pottery ? An analysis would easily decide the question. 
The same parallel and zigzag lines, or rows of dots, which decorate Indian ves- 
sels, are also seen on the ancient pottery of the north of Europe, and of other 
parts of that continent. They constitute the simplest elements of ornamentation, 
and have, therefere, everywhere been employed by man when he made his first 
attempts in the art of decoration. On the surface of a few ancient vases or urns 
found in Germany I noticed those markings which present the appearance of 
basket-work ; I was, however, in doubt whether they were impressions pro- 
duced by the inside of baskets, or simply ornamental lines traced on the wet 
clay. Yet, even in the latter case, it would seem that this kind of ornamenta- 
tion was suggested by the former practice of modelling vessels in baskets. I 
further saw some apparently very old specimens of pottery with rounded bot- 
toms. The oldest vessels of all nations, who practised the potter's art, probably 
exhibited that shape, the model of which was furnished by nature in the gourd 
and other fruits presenting rounded outlines. A flat bottom, therefore, would 
denote a progress in the ceramic art. Other particular features common to the 
pottery of both, the ancient inhabitants of Germany and the aborigines of North 
America, might be pointed out ; but the fictile fabrics of the former exhibit, on 
the whole, more elegance of outline, and therefore indicate a higher state of art. 
The similarity in the manufactures of men in various climates is greatest when 
art is in its very infancy among them. In the course of gradual development, 
the primitive forms common to mankind become more and more indistinct, and 
finally emerge into those varied and characteristic shapes which reflect the in- 
dividuality of nations. 





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